Installation of a door or window lock generally involves cutting a recess (also known as a mortise) in the edge of the door or window to accommodate at least a portion of the lock within the door or window and cutting a corresponding recess in the door or window jamb to accommodate a mortise that receives and engages with a locking mechanism (e.g., a bolt) of the lock. For example, the mortise in the door or window may be cut to accommodate a lock bolt and/or the latch plate of the lock, and the mortise in the jamb may be cut to accommodate a strike plate that defines the recess that receives the bolt of the lock.
Doors and windows have various thicknesses, and locks are offered in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Therefore, it may be necessary for a woodworker to cut mortises having a wide variety of shapes and sizes in the doors and windows and in the jambs with which the locks operate. In practice, it may be difficult for either professional or amateur woodworkers to cut properly sized and shaped mortises, particularly in a repeatable or reliable manner. For example, if a woodworker attempts to position a door lock and the corresponding mortise in the door jamb by measuring associated distances, then small measurement errors may cause an undesirable and noticeable offset between the door lock and the mortise in the jamb.
Consequently, strike and latch plate templates have been developed that seek to provide woodworkers with fast, easy, reliable techniques for positioning door and window locks and the corresponding mortises in the door and window jambs. Generally, a latch plate template is used to guide a cutting instrument, e.g., a router, to form a recess for a latch plate in an edge surface of a door, and a strike plate template is used to form a corresponding mortise in the door jamb. That is, a door strike plate template may be used to form a first mortise in the surface of the door jamb, and a door latch plate template may be used to form a second mortise in the facing edge surface of the door, so that the door lock and the jamb mortise, respectively, may engage to close and unclose or lock or unlock the door.